As Media Matters President Angelo Carusone told MSNBC host Nicolle Wallace Thursday, there are cracks in the right-wing media, which now dominates the media landscape, “especially on this Garcia case.” That, plus the contempt threats from the courts over the Trump administration’s refusal to return Abrego Garcia, are clearly beginning to spook the White House.
The first sign of wobbling was El Salvador President Nayib Bukele’s abrupt reversal in allowing Sen. Chris Van Hollen and Abrego Garcia’s family lawyer to visit with Kilmar Abrego Garcia. You can bet the Trump administration either told Bukele to change course or, at the very least, approved it.
Abrego Garcia appeared in street clothes, an obvious attempt to make him look unscathed. Bukele tried to give the impression his prisoner was ensconced in some kind of cushy surroundings. He tweeted that Abrego Garcia had “miraculously risen from the ‘death camps’ & ‘torture’, now sipping margaritas with Sen. Chris Van Hollen in the tropical paradise of El Salvador!?” Bukele then added, “Now that he’s been confirmed healthy, he gets the honor of staying in El Salvador’s custody.”
Underneath the very thin layer of bravado was an unmistakeable defensiveness.
